Built for this Moment, Western Arrives
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2018
McKenna Walker was a fourth grader when her dad, Tim, returned for his second stint as coach of the Bay City Western girls basketball team.
At that point, she didn’t realize what she and her friends were building. She simply was having fun playing basketball.
But her dad saw the future of his program.
“They were successful at a young age,” Tim Walker said. “I could see the athletic ability. I could see they were competitive and willing to learn at a young age. You could kind of see it coming with putting these pieces together.”
Now, as McKenna enters the second half of her senior season, she and her teammates are proving her father right. The Warriors are coming off their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1998-99, and were 9-0 heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with rival Midland. They’re ranked No. 6 in Class A by The Associated Press, and No. 8 by the Detroit Free Press.
“We have some really strong leadership with my daughter, McKenna – she’s been a big part of the turnaround since her freshman year,” said Tim Walker, who took over the program five games into the 2009-10 season, and also coached the Warriors from 1994-2004. “Also, we have kids in her class that have stuck with it and have been very committed since third and fourth grade. We have a strong group of juniors that have also been committed. They’re all competitive athletes, and I’ve been blessed to have kids who are dominant in other sports and have really meshed well together, accept their roles and play hard. It’s been very enjoyable to be a part of.”
This season, Bay City Western is winning with an uptempo style, sometimes driven by a five-guard lineup. McKenna Walker, who signed with Northwood University in November, leads that charge. She averaged 19 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a junior, and started this season with 1,120 career points. In a recent game against Saginaw, she set a career high with 39 points.
She is one of two four-year players on the team, as Kylie Lukowski also has been playing varsity ball since her freshman year. Lukowski stands at just 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but she finds a home in the post when it’s asked of her.
“I try my hardest because I’m not very tall, obviously,” she said. “So I just have to push them around a little bit and see if it bothers them at all.”
Despite the lack of size, things seem to be working, as the Warriors are keeping teams off balance and taking advantage of the matchups their smaller lineup creates.
“Let’s just say if there were a shot clock, we would not have a hard time getting a shot off,” Tim Walker said. “It’s not that we’re making them all, but we’re playing uptempo and forcing turnovers.”
The hope is that style can translate to victories in the postseason, which have been elusive for Bay City Western. The school won District titles in 1997 and 1998, but none since.
“(Winning a District title) would just be so cool,” McKenna Walker said. “It’s been one of my goals since coming in, because it’s been such a long time, and I just wanted to change that.”
When looking at the competition for a District title, one easily can forgive the Warriors’ current drought.
This season, like most, the bracket includes Bay City Central, Midland, Midland Dow, Mount Pleasant and Saginaw Heritage, which would be a tough path for any team.
“As these kids (were) developing at a young age, we’ve been having to set the bar awfully high,” Tim Walker said. “Because the Midlands have always been good, the Saginaw teams have always been good. You really have to get the kids to buy into the offseason work and just work hard.”
Two seasons ago, Western found itself leading Saginaw Heritage at halftime in a District Semifinal. Heritage came back to win the game, however, and eventually advanced to the Regional Final.
It was a tough loss, but also served as a confidence builder and teaching moment for the young Warriors.
“We definitely learned that every team is beatable,” McKenna Walker said. “Even if we’re playing a team that we’re supposed to beat, you never know, because every team is beatable. You never want to think that it’s UConn playing you. We’re all high school girls. We’re all the same age. Anything can happen.”
The Saginaw Valley League helps prepare the Warriors for this postseason gauntlet, although it’s preparing everyone else in the District as well. The league includes the six teams from the District, plus Davison, Flint Carman-Ainsworth, Bay City John Glenn, Flint Powers Catholic, Saginaw, Saginaw Arthur Hill, Flint and Lapeer all forming one division this winter.
The schedule can be a grind, but it also helps the team stay focused on the day-to-day routine needed to be successful and reach the goals it set at the beginning of the season – and the promise Tim Walker saw in this group so long ago.
“What I have noticed is, mentally, each night they’re in a pretty good place right now,” Tim Walker said. “They just have a really good grasp on what it takes to play with effort, team play and execution.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Bay City Western’s McKenna Walker gets to the basket during Bay City Western’s opener against Frankenmuth. (Middle) The Warriors defend the post against the Eagles. (Photos by Chip DeGrace.)
Madison 3-Sporter Wall Soars in Every Season
January 25, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
ADRIAN – How good of a senior year is Kaiya Wall having?
In the fall, Wall again earned all-state honors after leading Adrian Madison to 47 victories, conference and District championships, and she signed a letter of intent to play Division I volleyball after high school.
This winter, her Madison basketball team is 8-0, ranked among the state’s 10 best Division 3 teams by The Associated Press and sitting atop the Tri-County Conference.
What’s more amazing is her best might still be yet to come. Wall figures to be an anchor on a Madison girls track squad that has won 87 consecutive Tri-County Conference dual meets and could be an MHSAA title contender this spring.
“I don’t know if she has a ‘best’ sport,” said Madison track coach Josh Powers. “She is pretty darn good at all three she is playing.”
Wall is one of those rare athletes who can jump from sport to sport without skipping a beat. In the summer, she would split time between summer basketball and travel volleyball.
She is the third-leading scorer on Madison’s undefeated basketball team heading into tonight’s TCC clash with Ottawa Lake Whiteford. She also is one of top defenders on a suffocating Trojans defense giving up just 24.3 points per game. Three of Madison’s last four opponents have been held to 20 or fewer points.
Wall missed basketball season last year due to an injury, but her return this year has solidified the Trojans on the court.
“Kaiya has made a tremendous impact on our team this season,” Madison basketball coach Rick McNeil said. “She is very quick and has become an outstanding defender.”
Wall also has improved on the offensive end. McNeil said that has been the biggest difference for her.
“She has developed her ball handling skills, and we are able to move her to the guard position where she is a match-up problem for many teams because of her height and speed,” McNeil said. “She is an excellent passer and has the ability to hit the perimeter shot.”
Playing volleyball in college was far from a slam dunk decision. She also was recruited for track.
“I struggled deciding between track and volleyball,” Wall said. “I’ve gone on visits for both. I knew I wanted to play something in college. When I fell in love with that campus, I just decided I wanted to play volleyball.”
Wall was the Lenawee County volleyball player of the year as a junior and has earned second-team all-state honors three years running. She finished her career just shy of 2,000 kills and signed to play collegiately at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.
During her career she played in 545 sets, compiling 1,986 kills, 933 digs and 280 blocks – strong numbers for a girl who didn’t play competitive volleyball until seventh grade and only after friends talked her into it.
“I was terrible,” she said. “I was this tall, skinny girl, and they were like, ‘OK, you can play.’”
Her friends made a smart choice. Wall blossomed into a 5-foot-11 outside hitter.
“When I first met Kaiya, she was very raw with so much natural athleticism,” said Kathy Albers, now the head coach at Ypsilanti Lincoln who at one time coached Wall in travel volleyball. “She just needed to be taught and for someone to believe in her – but push her. After her first year of club with us, the talent was so apparent.
“She improved so much faster than most. Her height plus her jumping ability makes her tough at the net, and her quickness makes up for everything else.”
At Madison, Wall played for Dawn Opsal for her first three years and Kelsey Cortright this past season. Cortright stepped into the Madison job and saw first-hand Wall’s athleticism and leadership ability.
“Most importantly, she puts her team before herself,” Cortright said. “She is selfless and encouraging to all those around her, making her a role model for others both on and off the court. Outside of her abilities as a team leader, her athletic ability is remarkable.”
Jackson State coaches noticed that ability before ever seeing her in person. They found out about her by viewing a highlight video she had posted online. They reached out, and she went to Mississippi for a visit and fell in love with the campus and volleyball program.
Another criteria that helped her choose Jackson State was its academics. Wall has a 3.93 grade-point average and ranks 12th in her senior class at Madison.
“I plan on going into pre-med,” she said. “I want to be a trauma surgeon. They have a very good program.”
Had she not become enamored with the volleyball program, she might have been a track signee.
Wall won the Division 3 Finals 100-meter hurdles title as a freshman. As a sophomore she helped Madison win the team championship by finishing second in the high jump. Last year she was ninth in the high jump, second in the 100 hurdles and on the runner-up 1,600 relay team as the Trojans placed seventh as a team.
Powers, who will be inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame next week in Lansing, said Wall is determined.
“She takes advice and works on it,” he said. “I am, and I think she is, expecting her best track season yet.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Adrian Madison’s Kaiya Wall works to deflect a shot this season against Clinton. (Middle) Wall serves during a Division 3 Volleyball Semifinal in 2016.